After my last game, giving the Western Desert theatre a sort of trial run out, it became rather obvious to myself of how little I actually know about how the battles were fought. This is in complete contrast to North West Europe, Italy and the Eastern Front, where I feel I'm pretty comfortable wargaming these periods, given the reading I've done over many a year. Even the Far East and the Pacific War come ahead of the Western Desert.
Having seen the 'Tank Battles in Miniature' books at the recent CWD, I thought they might be a good place to start. Normally a lot of sellers, especially at shows, have them for sale at rather eye watering prices. For once I managed to find a couple of them for very reasonable prices and so, with my birthday coming up, I decided to treat myself.
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This really is a gem of a book and a perfect introduction to the period, covering aspects such as tactics, terrain, navigation, visibility and communication, plus the usual vehicle stats and some rules suggestions. All perfect information to build on some ideas I've had on how to tweak BKCII to make the battles more interesting. I'm looking forward to giving it a good read, make some notes and give the ideas a run out.
I've enjoyed previous books by Robert Forczyk, but I had not heard of this one, probably because I wasn't actively looking at gaming the Western Desert. So thanks to Neil Patterson for the 'heads up' on this:).
Quite a tome of a book, but at a first glance, it's got plenty of information in an easily accessible format, especially with regards to the infantry's part in the battles, which is rather neglected in Featherstone's book. Whilst having plenty of tanks on the table is fun, I would want to include the 'all arms' aspects of the battles, as that is much more interesting.
This was bought as a treat for that pure nostalgia hit! I'm pretty sure we used to use these rules at one point, as the infantry movement section rank many bells, or maybe it was the same in the Airfix WWII rules, given that it's by the same author.
Reading the book made me realise how useful and important these were, as they are a great 'one stop shop' for the gamer, when books back then were rather expensive in real terms and there weren't that many good books on WWII compared to today. The rules however are way too detailed and complex for today's tastes I would venture, but interesting to look back at how games were played back then. Thankfully things have moved on leaps and bounds, but each to their own.
What Next?
Aside from some more trial Western Desert games, I've dug out my notes on the Canadians in Normandy campaign to try and get the next battle in, as it's been far too long. I had planned on painting up a load of kit for both sides, but that is looking unlikely for a while. Ditto on the terrain front. So needs must and my Fallschirmjager will have to stand in as and when required. Oh the shame of it;)!
In a week of so's time, a bunch of us are meeting up for a trial game of Keith Flint's 'Startline' rules, based upon some old WRG rules covering 1925-1950. I believe the setting will be the Ruhr pocket in 1945, so this will be somewhat different to my normal games for sure. Photos and a sort of AAR to follow in due course.
It would be nice to get some painting in, but I'm not going to sweat over it if it doesn't happen, especially as the next few weeks are rather busy on many fronts. I might get lucky, you never know...
Thanks for reading and as always, any comments greatly appreciated!
TTFN.
Good additions to your library and very handy for your project.
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed they will provide the sort of info I'm after Donnie.
DeleteNostalgia button hit, it is the 70’s and this teenager is walking out of WH Smith (UK high street newsagent) clasping this new Tank Battles in Miniature book - fancy that, a high street bookshop selling wargame books, if only that were true now.
ReplyDeleteI lived in my copies, particularly the East Front one, which I used with 6mm stuff from Heroics & Ros and we didn’t see those books as being complicated at the time! Likewise the old WRG 1925 - 1950 set.
Enjoy your game with Keith.
WH Smith was a good go to shop when we were kids, along with Woolworth's. We had a massive bookshop in Cambridge (Heffers) that catered for the University, so plenty of choice but no idea of they had a wargaming section. I'm sure the local modelshops had these books, but so long ago I can't remember!
DeleteAt the time getting the protractor out to see the angle of attack was normal, but now I think would be seen as a step too far. Good to see plenty of 6mm tanks in the Desert book though:).
A good selection of books. I went along the same lines as yourself with the Tank Battles in Miniature range to better understand the tactics.
ReplyDeleteThe Tank Battles books are certainly a great starting point, if you can find them at a reasonable price!
DeleteI used to have four of the WW2 titles in the series two by Don Featherstone (Desert and Mediterranean), and two by Bruce Quarrie (East Front and NW Europe). Nicely presented volumes and full of interesting ideas. But they seemed to be designed for 1:300 games - not my favourite scale. At least, that was the impression I formed. Eventually I moved them on.
ReplyDeleteProbably not too smart, as these days I reckon I could have worked out for myself a very playable rule set out of the ideas they presented. My particular interest was the East Front, though I was developing Western Desert forces as well. Oh, well. A nostalgic moment I had there, but I don't even recall when I last saw those books...
Cheers,
Ion
The Western Desert volume is certainly geared towards 1:300 games based upon the photos, which I think works well in terms of giving the sense of space for the theatre fought in. Harder to paint though, certainly if you want to do Caunter came schemes;)!
DeleteThe ideas contained therein can certainly be used with lots of rulesets, as they are pretty simple and should be easy to tweak for whatever rules you favour.
When I last saw these books would have been the late 1970's!
Good stuff, Steve, looking forward to it, all of it! ;) I’ll be watching with interest not just on your stuff, but also Keith’s “Startline/Line of Departure” rules, good stuff!
ReplyDeleteV/R,
Jack
Thanks Jack!
DeleteVery interesting stuff. I should be doing some Western Desert stuff at some point over the next 12 months too, although in some ways it might be the part of the war I know most about. I wonder what I would think if I gave the Tank Battles...rules a go now? I think I preferred WRG at the time, but can't recall perfectly. I will be very interested in having a look at the 'Startline' rules in due course!
ReplyDeleteI used to think I knew about the Western Desert, but realised quite quickly I knew very, very little! Looking at the rules quickly, my head hurt at the thought of it, but I reckon with a few games things would work out OK. Not for me but some nice ideas in there.
DeleteThe Featherstone book has been sitting in my watchlist on ebay for some time, yet to pull the trigger. What do you reckon is a fair price?
ReplyDeleteI picked up the NWE one for £10.00 and the Western Desert one for £15.00, both including postage. I got lucky. A quick look on ebay and that's about as cheap as you can get them. An average price seems to be £20.00, but often higher than that, which makes you wonder if the seller is checking what others are pricing theirs at!
DeleteGood that you recognised a gap in your knowledge before ploughing into games. I never read any of those. But then I never really did much WWII wargaming, except some solo games with homemade rules when I was starting out.
ReplyDeleteThe Western Desert is definitely on my 'to do' list though. It always appealed
You think you know a period (ie WWII) but quickly realise that each theatre had its own issues that you need to understand to help make your games 'believable'. WWII was our only period really, although we did dabble in Ancients, but you couldn't really call it wargaming, but we had fun!
DeletePretty sure I still have this book, plus the Ostfront one, in my book cupboard...bought as a pair from Military Modelling probably in the mid 70's...as with most of my wargaming books, never fully read, although I do recall the very tedious hit and damage tables....I think I was ahead of the times, I never enjoyed that level of detail/ fussiness !
ReplyDeleteFeatherstone probably concentrated on the armour because he was a tanker in the desert I believe?
Look forward to seeing what pops up next, the game at "the other" Keith's sounds like it will be fun!
Airfix and MM magazines were the only places to find out what was going on, if you could find them in town, and taking out a subscription never occured to me, as money was always tight in the 1970's. I suppose for us with only a tank or two per side, the level of detail was fine, but wouldn't work with a few troops on the table, equating to maybe 8-10 tanks each.
DeleteFeatherstone was a tanker, so his perspective is rather skewed. Forczyk's book should help give balance to this view, or so I'm hoping.
The 'other Keith's' game should be fun as there will be 6 of us playing on a 6' x 4' table at Big Battles in Cirencester, so plenty of space and loads of chatting, with the occasional dice roll;)!
Nice additions to the library.
ReplyDeleteI think they are Richard and am very happy having finally got my grubby mits on them:).
DeleteNice books Steve I have the Featherstone western desert and it is indeed packed with details 👍
ReplyDeleteThanks Matt and Featherstone's book is already giving food for thought:).
Deletesome light reading then. happy upcoming birthday! 😁
ReplyDeleteThanks Stew:)!
DeleteGlad you are liking the Featherstone book, I was quite impressed with it, he conjures up the atmosphere of the desert really well, obviously from his own experience. I was always rather daunted by Bruce Quarrie's rules, having started with Charles Grant. Did 88mm guns have multiple shots per turn? They were blinking devastating! It'll be interesting to see how Keith Flint's game goes, I look forward to that..
ReplyDeleteHe does give a good impression for sure of what it was like to fight in the desert. Some of it reminds me of my time in Nigeria, with the blinding light, the intense heat of the relative cold of the Harmattan and the mist like dust it brought of the Sahara. I haven't got to the rules bit yet, but I did read somewhere that on average it took 20 shots for an 88 to KO a tank. Actually trying to hit a target at distance must have been very hard, even with a gun such as this, given how small the target it.
DeleteJust finished the 2 volumes by Forczyk - a very interesting read and a different perspective. He is critical of just about everyone! If there's a bias it's towards armour officers, perhaps not surprising as that was his branch specialty.
ReplyDeleteThere is an inherent contradiction in that he is very critical of Rommel yet equally dismissive of "cautious" commanders ; Richard O'Connor gets the same criticism as Rommel - not enough regards to supply. Yet his conclusion is that armour needed to be handled "boldly" and sort of admits that Rommel and O'Connor achieved remarkable results, despite his earlier dismissals.
Supply emerges as extremely important and that it was much easier to defend, especially if using combined arms, than attack.
Neil
It will be interesting to read his forst volume after Featherstone's book. It is obvious that supply is critical to both sides, hence why Rommel needed Tobruk. Also he writes of offensives simply coming to a halt due to out running said supplies and also the equipment simply being worn out. Quite a surprise to me to read of the months of no action as both sides re-equipped for the next round of battles. So being on the defensive would appear to have a big supply advantage for sure.
DeleteI remember pestering my father for Tank Battles in Miniature volume #2 (Eastern Front) for Christmas when I was a lad. Bless him - he tried.
ReplyDeleteI did my best to make sure the disappointment was short lived when I opened the parcel only to find volume #3 NW Europe instead. Still, as a youth I was absolutely enthralled with the book and spent much of the holiday period with a pencil, noting down details of various tanks, vehicles etc. Those were the days - I still have an occasional flick through the various TBiM volumes every now and then.
Enjoy your birthday.
Cheers,
Geoff
Thanks Geoff! I think my friend had these books whilst I might have had the Airifx WWII rulebook, so nice to have a second childhood as it were in getting and reading them:). I might get the Eastern Front one too, if I can find it at a reasonable price...
DeleteTop additions to your library. Next stop some memoirs?
ReplyDeleteYou must be a wargamer of a 'certain age' since you find it necessary to read about a period in order to represent it in some way on the tabletop and not merely to play 'the game'. Brings added warmth to my heart! 😀
Best wishes, James
They are very nice books for sure James. I do have 'Alamein to Zem Zem' which is a superb memoir of Keith Douglas' time in the Desert and Tunisia, plus one on the LRDG published in 1945 ('43?). I always love to read up on a period as I prepare to game it, to help me understand how and why things might have happened. And then of course their is just the pure pleasure of the history part too. Why wouldn't you want to do this?!
DeleteI could not agree more!!
DeleteNice books, never my thing, although I think I saw them in WH Smiths and adverts in Military Modeling, I think Im more of a book addict than wargamer, that and modeling and painting, wargaming just gives me a vague reason to do it!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
They are nice books and after having seen them advertised in the 1970's, it's nice to finally get my hands on them:). Currently I feel like I'm only really reading at present, as the gaming and painting mojo is rather low. A weekend away and a game tomorrow might rectify that...
DeleteQuite the collection Steve, some great ideas for scenarios amongst those, interesting your take on Startline and the enhancements Keith has made... I used to love the original rules back in my youth :-)
ReplyDeleteThere is certainly plenty of info alreayd on how to make some interesting games or linked campaigns. I'll just have to wait and see what unfolds. I never played the rules before and they are not set at my normal level of gaming, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow's game:).
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